


Life Will Change

by PaulaAna



Category: Persona 5, Rockman.EXE | Mega Man Battle Network
Genre: (as I can manage anyway), guys this is persona based, no beta we die like men, please go in expecting things that happen in persona games, shits gonna be dark, tags will be added as relevant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:08:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24785938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaulaAna/pseuds/PaulaAna
Summary: When your whole life is a game, you have no choice but to try and win, yeah? Especially when losing may have consequences that reach far beyond you...(Rockman.EXE/Persona 5 Fusion fic. Beware formatting issues)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 15





	1. That Wasn't Supposed to Happen

**Author's Note:**

> holy shit, a multi chapter work? What is this?  
> this is a passion project... maybe throwing it out to the public will make me actually work on it.

**_November 18th, 2016_ **

**_After School..._ **

* * *

"After him!" 

The night sky glittered through the windows as Joker ran by, moving along the sills of the window with grace born in practice and time. 

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were intentionally leading them on," Nurse commented in his ear. 

"Psh, nah. You know how no nonsense he is! He wouldn't do that!" Ribbon responded. Despite her words, her tone revealed she was as joking as Nurse.

"He's going to get caught if he doesn't stop," Rock scolded. "There's an air vent to your left, Joker. Take it."

"Lighten up, Rock!" crooned Light. "You and Nurse worry way too much!"

"Worry? You misunderstand me, Light. Joker's just an idiot." They could almost imagine Nurse tapping her foot without even seeing it.

"I think none of you are taking this with appropriate seriousness." Soldier jumped in. "The only ones even trying seem to be myself, Rock, and Popup." No one could see Soldier, as he was off by himself, but they could hear his frown loudly over the comms.

"Because we should act like a dog?" Light asked, immediately followed by a yelp as someone smacked him. If Joker had to guess, it was Ribbon or Popup.

"How about you're all a distraction and really need to be quiet?" Joker asked, grinning all the same. He had taken Rock's advice, pulling himself up into the vents and let himself out into maintenance hallways, avoiding the guards chasing him for now.

  
With a quick look around to make sure he really alone, he crept down the hallway, leaping from shadow to shadow. He ducked behind a plush chair as a pair of guards ran by, hoping to catch any one of the nine thieves currently running about the building. They ran by the leader, but of course, they didn’t notice him.

They never did. 

Climbing through the building had led Joker to the upper floors. Okay, going up made things a little tougher, but he had accepted that escaping from down below was hopeless on foot.    
  
“HALT!”

Oh, wonderful. He was found again. How were they tracking him so fast, exactly?

“There’s no way around! Joker, you’ll have to fight your way through!” Rock’s voice echoed in his ear, the navigator trying his hardest to manage all of the escapes at once.    
  
(He really didn’t envy the navigator’s job.)

Drawing his sword from his sheath, he took a wide slash, striking both of the blob like security guards and causing them to dissolve. In a moment, they were more solid demons, something he could actually fight.    
  
_ Have to finish this quickly! _ _   
_ _   
_ Joker grabbed his mask, summing a figure with long flowing hair next to him. “Let’s do this in one shot.” The figure readied it’s blade, wreathed in dark energy.

  
“EIGAON!” The swordsman next to him drew his sword back, and then in one fluid movement, tore straight through the opposing shadow. Not waiting a moment longer, Joker drove his sword straight through the chest of the shadow’s friend, drawing his pistol quickly and shooting it for good measure.

“And that’s that.” He said, pleased, tucking his weapons back into their respective holsters.   
  
“Good one Joker! Now get going!” Rock encouraged. 

“Watching him fight is fun, can we look for more things to- OW! Will you stop that?” Light complained, more shuffling as he evidently swung back this time.    
  
“Are you trying to get us in trouble?” Ribbon asked.

Shaking his head, Joker took off down the hall way, continuing his hunt for a safe way out. Whatever map he was using, apparently Rock was unable to give him more useful directions.

He was at the top of the building now, looking for a way out when the guards found him a second time. He could fight his way out, or he could do the fun thing….    
  
How much did he feel like channeling Light?

With guards on both sides, and a 5 on 1 match seeming unlikely, even with his skill and variety, Joker decided that channeling Light was in fact the best option here.    
  
Pivoting on his heel, Joker faced the huge window directly to his left, and with a few steps back, launched himself straight into it, guarding his face with his arms. For the briefest of seconds, Joker let himself fly through the air, before shifting to head down and land on his feet. For a precious few seconds, Joker thought he might have actually made it outside safely, and that he’d escape from the building unharmed. 

And then all at once, the world in front of him lit up with the spotlights of SWAT officers. Oh. Oh hell. Pivoting on his heel, Joker jumped up to grab the fire escape ladder, encouraged by the chanting of his teammates in his ears. He climbed as quickly as he could.

In the back of his mind, he could feel everyone yelling at him, warning of incoming danger. Not just his teammates either.   
  
Officers greeted him at the top of the ladder. Even though he knew they were coming, Joker couldn’t help looking surprised. Even more so, when they stomped on his hands, forcing him to let go and sending him spiraling back to the ground.

This time, Joker wasn’t able to control his plummet.

The following was a flurry of motion and noise, as his comm link was torn away and he lost contact with his teammates, amid their worried commentary.   
  
“So young, huh?” Commented one officer, grabbing Joker’s face and roughly examining it, as if to get an idea who he was behind his mask. “To think that an actual kid has been committing this string of crimes…”   
  
Joker hoped the glare came across the way he wanted it to. With his arms pinned with an adult’s full bodyweight to his back, there’s not much else he can do.    
  
“You were sold out, you know.” Another officer, this one far more arrogant sounding, knelt down next to Joker. “You can thank your teammates for this.”   
  


And then Joker’s world went dark.

* * *

  
  


When Joker came to, it was not to the same beautiful building he had fallen asleep in. Rather, it was in a concrete room he had never seen before, with two officers staring him down. He blinked slowly, trying to process the world around him.

His face was bare. His mask was missing. And looking down revealed that he wasn’t wearing a a tuxedo of any kind, or any kind of weapons; just his day clothes. 

“Assault, Murder, Grand Larceny, Obstruction of Justice, Property Damage, and more.” The officer was reading his charges. “Quite an impressive rap list for someone who is like, 17 years old?” He asks.   
  
Joker glared, not willing to respond to them. If they expect him to cooperate with them, they had another thing coming.

Apparently, the officer with the clipboard had the same idea. “Now, kid. You can make this easy, or you can make it hard. We have a confession prepped for you. All you have to do is sign.”    
  
Still not willing to open his mouth, Joker shook his head no, trying as much to shake the worry of his teammate’s safety as he is trying to push away the orders of the officer. He needed to hold his ground. They knew the plan, he had to trust they carried it out.

The officer didn’t agree with Joker’s vow of silence, shoved the chair over, throwing the teen to the ground. “Think you can be a real smart guy, eh? We’ll get your name, one way or another, kid.”

Blue eyes wandered to the camera in the back corner, behind the officer. The officer turned to see what Joker was looking at, and then laughed. “Are you hoping for the camera to save you kid? That someone will see this and come to your rescue? Let me burst your bubble; They don’t come to save criminals like you.” The clipboard is roughly shoved in Joker’s face again, as someone realized they should probably release his hands if they expected him to write.   
  
“Don’t even think about lying kid. You’ll just be caught immediately.” He chuckled, as if it were funny. “Not that you could anyways.”   
  
Deciding to cooperate to avoid another harsh hit like that, even though he was confused by the statement, Joker raised his hand to write his name on the clip board. 

_ Ijuuin Enzan _

The officers looked at the name for a moment.    
  
“Isn’t it that kid of that CEO…?” Asked one. 

“The one who got in trouble over assaulting a politician?” The other officer confirmed it with a nod.

“You’re going away for a long time kid.” The one that had shoved the clipboard in his face kicked him again, almost completely for ‘good measure’ at this point.

And then he was alone.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Enzan finally climbs to his feet and at least rights hs chair. He was stuck in this room for the foreseeable future. He was waiting for a certain someone, but that person had to actually show up… and a part of him couldn’t help but worry that all their planning was for naught.

Those worries were assuaged when a woman with her hair in a ponytail, wearing a clean pink suit with a blue tie. If anyone could make that look professional…   
  
“Ijuuin-kun. I apologize, but we’ll need to make this as quick as you can manage.” She got right to work, setting the folder in her arms down and spreading them across the table. “I have had some time bought for me by my superior, but unfortunately they seem insistent you don’t get a fair shot.”   
  
Enzan couldn’t say he was surprised. With a rap sheet like his, he can’t imagine anyone wanted to see him walk free. If only they knew….   
  


“We have been told...things about how you committed your crimes.” Manabe began slowly. “However, the explanations are… spotty at best.” 

Enzan nodded. They sounded unbelievable to him even know, and he had been at this for the better part of a year.

“They say you steal hearts, and fittingly, all those your target have make a complete 180 in their behavior. Ijuuin-kun, I need you to tell me everything so I can make an effective defense. I know their… methods, may make talking a little hard, but I need you to try.” Her nose crinkled a little bit at the comment. “You have to try.”   
  
“From the beginning?” Enzan spoke finally.

“From the beginning.” Manabe agreed.

“Well. It started in early April ...”


	2. Chapter 2

_**April 16th, 2016** _

_**Afternoon** _

Tokyo was huge, and stepping off the train into Shibuya Station, Enzan was almost overwhelmed immediately by the crowd. It was far different from the smaller town his father’s company was set in. Getting out of the station was hard enough, but he had to navigate his way to the next of the trains he needed to catch.

_One more stop_ , Enzan assured himself, digging out his phone to check on the directions to his new residence one more time. Next stop, Yogen. His new home for the next year, or until someone arbitrarily decided that he broke his probation and that he needed to go off to jail, or until his father decided there was an actual use for a ‘family disgrace’ back home. (A small part of him, deep and smothered under a veneer of indifference, was really wanting to spend the full year here.)

At least there was peace in the crowds he was navigating. It was loud sure, but that’s all it really was. No one cared that he walked among them, no one knew who he was in the hustle of Shibuya Station. No media, no reporters so far in his face he couldn’t breath, begging for an interview from the tarnished golden child. No looks of pity from Weslyn, or disparaging ones from his father that he got, no matter how hard Enzan tried to appease him. It was all absent here, and would continue to be, as long as he kept his head down. 

He planned to, he really did. He never was one to cause trouble anyways.

In the moment that it took Enzan to check his phone and get lost in thought, his phone screen flashed a weird red, spreading across the screen and the world. It was the briefest of flashes, even taking the hyper attentive Enzan a moment to realize anything had changed. 

‘The Change’ showed itself as a shadow. Just the whisp of a figure with flowing hair and a katana. What…? He blinked and the imposing figure was gone. He looked around, seeing if anyone else had noticed the strange figure in the sky. No one was acting any different. 

(Enzan discarded his initial thought, that somehow it was common enough it wasn’t worth acknowledging. That it wasn’t worth looking at. But that was stupid and his life wasn’t a cartoon. Even if this all felt like it was straight out of one.)

With the figure gone, Enzan could look back down at his phone, and saw that the figure in the sky wasn’t the only thing that the flash had left him. A strange app, one with a red background and a black eye imposed on it had appeared on his home screen. There was no name.

_A virus…. First I was hallucinating and now this_.

Wondering what sketchy site he had wandered onto, Enzan touched his finger to it to uninstall it. And away it went. Not that it would ever be that easy with a virus, but… Who knows?

He’d have to do a proper maintenance of his phone later. It was one of the few possessions he brought with him, and he’d like to keep it in good condition. It was only all to relieving when he finally found his next train, and was able to get away from the strangeness of Shibuya.

* * *

Finally, Enzan had made his way to Yogen, and now he was tasked with finding the dwelling of his caretaker for the year, one Eguchi Meijin. Supposedly, according to what Weslyn told him as she saw him off, Meijin was an acquaintance of hers, who worked in the field of computers.  
  
“You’ll like him.” Weslyn assured him over and over as she had driven him to the train station.

Enzan would have to trust his secretary’s judgement. (Well, she wasn’t his secretary anymore, but…)

As he made his way through the streets, murmurs of a train accident drifted up around him. It was one of many similar incidents that had been plaguing Tokyo and the surrounding area in recent times. Just what he wanted to hear, that his new mode of transport was now once again dangerous. He’d have to get used to the idea.(He still couldn’t help but look forward to the freedom that this was going to afford him. Once he found the one who held the keys to his cell, and dictated whether he could be free.)  
  
The house was easy enough to find, if not a tad out of the way, in a back alley. The nameplate reading ‘Eguchi’ stood out, and with a deep breath Enzan rung the door bell. This man was well respected, in both what Weslyn said, and what he had managed to research on the train. What kind of person could he be, to have willingly taken in a convict?

The young man adjusted his bag and corrected his posture as the door opened. Regardless of whoever was awaiting him, he would present himself with Ijuuin professionalism. He would make a good impression. After all, you had to be respectful to get anywhere in a deal, business or social.

The door swung open to reveal a disheveled but grinning man, brown haired man. “You must be Enzan-kun, yeah? I’ve been expecting you!”

“Yes, that is me.” He said with a bow. “Thank you for taking me in, Eguchi-san. I am Ijuuin Enzan.”

The man waved it off with a laugh, opening the door wider so his newest charge could come in. “Please, just Meijin will be fine. Eguchi-san is far, far too formal.”  
  
Enzan blinked, not expecting someone like that to greet him, but he kept his poker face as stable as possible otherwise. He didn’t want Meijin to get the wrong impression of him so quickly.

The inside of the house was fairly tidy, but it was clearly lived in. There was also almost an uncomfortable amount of figures decorating the main room for a full grown man. A few comic books were stashed neatly on the entertainment stand underneath the TV. Scattered across the coffee table appeared to research notes of some kind and a laptop, alongside a coffee, as any researcher needed. It was… warm, almost. Warm and Welcoming. Not at all what Enzan was expecting from someone who was willing to take in a teenager with a tarnished record. 

He had to remind himself not to be so suspicious, that not everyone had an ulterior motive. This was someone Weslyn knew; they couldn’t be all bad.Unfortunately, it was just in his nature.

“While I’d love to get to know you more, you’ve had a long journey, haven’t you?” Meijin was still all cheer, gesturing for Enzan to follow him. “I presume you’ll want to see your room?” 

“Yes please. I would appreciate that.” He held himself stiffly as he followed. His clothes and basic belongings would be sent ahead, and thus should have arrived before him. He would have to trust what he was told was the case. Smaller personal affects, such as his laptop or pictures of his mother were in his travel bag. 

(He practically had to steal those pictures. Add picture theft to his laundry list of crimes at this point.)

To say he was shocked as to the room Meijin offered him was an understatement. It was a room on the upper floor that looked like no one had been in there months. The downstairs living room had suggested that maybe his new host wasn’t the most organized…

“I apologize, this was sprung on me on short notice.” The scientist had the decency to look abashed at the state of the room. “I kind of… used it as storage. But there’s a bed in there, and your things are in there. Somewhere.” He chuckled, embarrassed. “You’ll have to clean up in here yourself as you see fit.”  
  
Enzan legitimately couldn’t tell if this was supposed to be a test of character or not.

“Most of it is stuff I don’t really need. So if you can organize this, you can use whatever you find for yourself.” Meijin continued. “Don’t destroy the house and you’ll have just about complete freedom.”

_Complete freedom, huh…?_  
  
“Thank you Egu- Meijin. I really do appreciate it.” Enzan bowed his head again. “I will make the best of it.”  
  
Meijin nodded, with a satisfied grin. “Go and get comfortable, Enzan-kun. Be prepared. We’ll have to go check out your school tomorrow. And we all know how fun that is.”  
  
Apparently, not all that fun as a normal teenager, and not improved by being rich. And that was all when he _didn’t_ have a record.

Meijin left Enzan to his own devices, and that meant Enzan had work to get to.At least it was something to take his mind off things. To not think about hallucinations in Shibuya, or train wrecks, or of the disapproval of everyone that’s ever mattered to him…

He was glad to have the work to do. Eventually, he freed himself up a desk, and neatened up a shelf enough to have some free space. Some of the stuff he couldn’t use could be folded up and tucked against a wall. And after a few hours of hard work, he had himself an almost livable room.

That was his. With no standards he had to abide by. It felt almost unreal.

He could enjoy it more when he wasn’t tired. He took a shower and climbed into his new bed, and slid under the covers, taking only a minute to check his phone before he went to sleep. The strange app from earlier was back. With a frown, he dragged it to uninstall again before putting the phone down to go to sleep. 

He didn’t notice the strange feeling settling over him…

* * *

The world Enzan awoke to was not Meijin’s house, and not the room he was gifted.Instead of plaster above his head, it was concrete, and it didn’t take long to realize that his clothing had changed from his clean and comfortable day clothes to the out of place prison clothes. And his wrists were bound with… chains. What drugs was he on? He didn’t usually have such strange dreams.

“I’m pleased to see you have awakened.”  
  
The person who greeted him was a young girl, with a silvery hair that was long enough to reach her waist, clipped out of her face with big pink butterfly clips. Behind her was a man, same silver hair, except that it spiked out, almost enough to poke someone if Enzan entertained the whimsy. The girl carried a clipboard, and the man a baton.

“Please, step up to the bars, and meet our master. He’s been waiting for you.”  
  
The girl stood in front of the bars until Enzan managed to drag his feet to the cell door. And he did mean drag; his ankle was weighed down by a steel ball. Talk about a bad dream… The girl and her companion stepped aside, revealing an old man with a creepy grin and an unusually long nose. Enzan couldn’t help pinching himself, just to make see if this wasn’t a weird dream. He hadn’t dreamt going to Tokyo, had he?  
  
“I am Igor. Welcome to my velvet room.”  
  
Geez, definitely dreaming. If he looked around, he was going to see a pink rabbit jump out of the unnervingly detailed jail cell toilet. And everything was going to explode into obnoxious sparkles and he’ll awake and merely regret that he didn’t sleep enough.  
  
“ ‘Velvet Room?’ “ The name brought to mind old English novels, but Enzan’s head wasn’t clear enough to bring forth any more information on the matter. “How’d I get here?”  
  
“I do not recommend questioning our master, Inmate.” The girl with the butterfly clips was staring straight at him. “It is by his grace you have been given a chance.”  
  
“Iris, our newest guest has had a long day. It is okay that he is confused.”  
  
Iris bowed her head. “I am sorry. I stepped out of line.” She stepped back towards her companion, who had barely moved during this exchange. He raised his hand and placed it on Iris’s shoulder.  
  
“As I was saying. I run this prison, and shall be guiding you through fate’s game. You will also be guided by Iris and Colonel, who have graciously agreed to oversee your rehabilitation.”  
  
In response, Iris bowed, and the new dubbed Colonel nodded.“Fate’s game? This certainly doesn’t feel like a game.” Enzan stated, furrowing his brows.

“What you should concern yourself with, prisoner, is surviving the game that fate has laid out for you.” Igor leaned his chin on his hands. With a balding head and a creepy, too wide grin, the whole set up gave Enzan shivers down his spine.

“Please stop talking in circles and get to the point.”

“Dear Prisoner, if you continue down your path as you are, you will only meet loneliness, and loneliness in turn becomes your destruction.”

…Sure, Enzan wasn’t social, but he couldn’t imagine that would destroy him. What kind of nonsense was this dream trying to feed him?

Why was he taking a dream seriously anyways,? This was clearly a weird dream. It had to be…

“Please take his words to heart, Inmate.” Iris said, voice soft, checking something on her clipboard before looking up to Enzan. “It is important that you do your best, to avoid destruction. The consequences for not doing so are dire.”

“You may awaken, now prisoner. Many more long days await.”


	3. School?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how do keep dates straight >.>

_**April 17th, 2016  
Morning** _

When Enzan awoke, it was not to the jail cell.

He was staring up at the ceiling of his room that Meijin had given him to live in, and the blankets on the bed were soft and fluffy, not the thing scratchy ones. Looking around the room, there was no sight of iron bars, strangers in blue uniforms, or a creepy old man behind a desk.

He wasn’t in jail. It was just a dream. And it felt way too real, like instead of being figments of his imagination, these people, this… Igor, Iris, Colonel were people he could get to know. But that was insane. Right?

“Enzan-kun! It’s time to get up!”   
  
That snapped Enzan out of his reverie about his weird dream. Meijin had come to wake him up? He could even be bothered to help? He shook it off. It was nothing. Just doing his job as a caretaker for the next year. Doesn’t want to be inconvenienced. Right.  
  
“Enzan-kun!”  
  
“I’m up!” He called back, pushing himself out of bed. It was time to be awake, and solving his dreams was secondary to solving his real world problems at his current point in time. For now, he’d worry about going to his new school and meeting the principal. To feel out his new contract that he was going to have to follow, whether he really wanted to or not.

“I made you breakfast! You’ll want the energy before facing the school!”  
  
He got himself his nicest casual outfit before opening the door. Meijin smiled and flashed him a thumbs up before disappearing downstairs. With a roll of his shoulder, Enzan followed him. Time to eat. Whatever that breakfast may be. The what didn’t matter to Enzan very much.

Truthfully, he should have expected it to just be a bowl of cereal. He can’t imagine someone would be willing to go with something more complex for someone like him. (Though it was worth noting that Meijin himself had a bowl of cereal as well.) At least it was one of the sweeter cereals; unbecoming as it may have been for someone of his stature, it had always been a guilty pleasure.

“Weslyn told me that you haven’t been to a public school before.”

Enzan paused with the spoon midway to his mouth, caught slightly off guard by the question. He didn’t know he why he was surprised the other would try to make conversation over a meal. Social ettiquette said that making light conversation over a meal was a good thing. 

Enzan set the spoon back into the bowl. “No, I have not. Father thought it was below someone like us.” 

“You probably shouldn’t stop eating; The cereal will get all soggy.” When it was clear that Mijin wasn’t going to say anything else until he went back to eating, Enzan picked his spoon back up to continue working on the food.  
“Let me guess; School was all private tutors, for you?”

Enzan nodded. “Yes it was. Father was adamant that I was to recieve only the finest education that money could buy me.” 

“Did you enjoy it?”

Enjoy it? “It served its purposes. I learned what I needed to learn to succeed in life and eventually take over Father’s business.” There was no room in that life for enjoying something as mundane as school. There were far more important things to worry about.

Meijin raised his eye brows. “That wasn’t what I asked, Enzan-kun.” He gestured at Enzan with the spoon in his hand. “I asked if you enjoyed private tutoring.” 

At least eating the cereal bought Enzan some time to think before he had to answer that. Did he enjoy it? “I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it. But it did what it needed to do, and I have already gotten a decent education.”

Meijin acknowledged that he was heard, though he didn’t say anything else right away. “Unfortunately, your probation requires you to attend a public school. Will you be able to handle it?”

That was almost offensive. “I know how to handle myself in public. It can’t be that bad.” He most likely already knew the material, so it was a matter of keeping his head down and not worrying about the other students. He would behave himself.

(He almost liked the idea of the structure school was going to provide to his day, in lieu of working.)

“I hope it’s as easy for you as you are expecting then.” Meijin finished off the milk in his bowl before getting up to put it in the sink. “Finish up soon, okay? We’ve got to get to the school to meet your teachers.”

Meeting teachers. Enzan was really looking forward to that - not. They’d all know who he was before he even stepped foot into the school, and he wasn’t looking forward to being judged before he even opened his mouth there.

But if Enzan knew anything, it was business, and he had confidence he’d be able to prove himself both a capable student and a well behaved one. 

“Just keep your head up okay? Regardless of what happens at the school today.”

The encouragement drew a small smile out of Enzan, for the briefest of moments. It was too soon to tell, of course, but it seemed his placement wasn’t going to be so bad.

Now, he needed to finish his food before he made Meijin wait too long for him.  
  
...Gross. It seemed like he had made the cereal wait too long already.

\----

When Enzan was ready, it was only 8 AM, and they’d have plenty of time to get to the school just to meet his teachers. He couldn’t tell if he was excited or not; All he could do was wait and see what would happen.

By driving, the school wasn’t that far away, making the drive in a mere twenty minutes. This wouldn’t be the norm for his day to day commute, since Meijin couldn’t drive him every single day. The instructions were simple enough though.

And then they were there. Actually in front of the school that Enzan was probably going to graduate from. He wasn’t totally sure what he had been expecting when he came face to face with the school; maybe something a little more like a prison, like all those stupid tv shows that came on when it was way too late and he needed the background noise to push through that last little bit of paperwork.

Instead it just looked like a nice, decent sized school building. An older girl with slightly curly blonde hair was hauling some dirt around by the steps as she tended to the potted flowers, and held a conversation with another girl with red hair pulled into a ponytail. A few kids lounged in the yard, likely intending to be there for as long as they could manage before having to begin the school day properly.

“Enzan-kun, do you want to just stand there all day?”

Enzan jumped, snapping out of his reverie quickly. “Ah, no. I’m sorry, let’s go in.”

Meijin chuckled. “Have you never been this close to a school before?” 

“No. There’s a lot of people.” The statement rang even more true as they stepped into the main foyer of the school. “I’m not sure what I expected.”

“You’ll have to adapt to this quickly, you know. But you seem like a smart kid, you’ll figure it out.” He had a lot of confidence in Enzan for some reason. “Now. We need to find our way to the third floor? I think?” Meijin dug around in his pocket and pulled a guide out with a noise of triumph. “It’s been a bit since I’ve been here!”

“You went here?” 

“Aaaaah, that’s not important right now. What’s important is finding where the principal’s office is.” He looked over the paper - a map? Maybe Enzan should look into obtaining one for himself, that would help greatly with his first few days.  
  
Still. “... Was going here a bad thing for you?” He asks with a raised eyebrow. Why dodge the question?

“Why don’t you ask me later, yeah? Okay, I think it’s on the third floor.” 

Frustrated, but realizing that he probably wasn’t going to get any sort of straight answer for the time being, Enzan shoved his hands in his pockets, and followed after Meijin, eyes scanning back and forth across the halls, trying to commit all the locations to memory. Even without a map, he wanted a basic idea of how to get around.

He didn’t need to get lost and make a fool of himself on opening day.

The bell rang, as kids started making their ways to class. As they made their ways up to the third floor, Enzan caught sight of flyers for the computer club plastered all over the bulletin boards, boasting an ‘incredible look into invention and programming’ and ‘working with rare, precious devices’ for ‘a small upkeep fee paid directly to the teacher.’

It looked interesting, and like something he might want to do at some point into the future, but alas, he was broke. He didn’t exactly have Father’s backing, and without it, he lacked funds of any kind.

It was okay. He’d live, no matter how fun it looked. Still, even just getting to work on technology for fun would have been a great way to pass the year...

Meijin was right in guessing it was on the third floor. He took a breath to steele himself, not knowing what he’d find on the other side of the door, meeting the principal and his homeroom teacher.

“Get your game face on, kid.” Meijin gives him an encouraging smile. “This meeting might just decide your future.”  
  
Enzan had faced business meetings scarier than this. He’d be fine, he knew exactly how to conduct himself in situations like this. 

(That didn’t stop the butterflies in his stomach. They’d be looking at him like he was a criminal; there’s no way he’d meet even more adults willing to accept his past like Meijin did.)  


The open door revealed and revealed an older man with a white beard and a striking black and red suit, accompanied by a much younger woman, with brown hair in two buns on the sides of her head and a nice, simple dress. 

“You must be Ijuuin Enzan and his guardian, Eguchi Meijin, correct?” The man is flipping through some paperwork on his desk. More than likely it was Enzan’s own transfer papers. 

“Yes, that is me.” Enzan nodded his head in greeting.

While Enzan had gone for polite, Meijin didn’t bother with the veneer of formalacy. “Yo! Just Meijin will be fine.”

The woman seemed amused at least, hiding a smile behind her hand, while the principal just glared at him, before gesturing for them both to sit down. “Let’s make this quick, I’m a busy man, and we have more things to deal with than the riffraff who is lucky we took him in.”  
  


Meijin’s smile faded into something more serious. Enzan merely had to close his eyes to calm himself for a half a second. There was no need to have such an aggressive greeting, sure, but he had dealt with much worse in business meetings. He’d carry on just fine. 

“Sir, there’s no need to-” The woman spoke up, but the principal waved her off.

“It’s unimportant, Mariko.” The woman, apparently Mariko, stepped back with a slight shake of her head. “I am Gauss Magnus, the principal of the school and the one kind enough to allow you to be admitted despite your… unsavory past.”

“And we’re grateful. Let’s get straight to the important stuff, yeah?” Meijin asked, leaning forward. It was almost like his whole demeanor had changed in those few seconds. Maybe the principal’s attitude had bothered him too.

“Right. There’s no need for lollygagging around. Simply put, Ijuuin-kun here is in a very precarious position, and we’re taking a big risk in accepting someone with a known record of assault.”

Don’t wince, Enzan. You knew that was coming.   
  
“So we have some ground rules we need to lay.”

Enzan nodded.   
  
“Get on with it, already.” Meijin said, waving the man to continue with what he was saying. So much for diplomacy?  
  
“It should be quite simple. You keep your head down and you don’t cause trouble. I expect exceptional grades from you, based on your academic history.”  
  
Mariko looked as though she wanted to say something, based on the papers she was looking at on her clipboard, but gave up when she wasn’t even given room to speak.   
  
“You will treat every teacher at this school with respect, and Mariko here will be reporting to me the instant you step out of line.”  
  
He saw that coming as well. 

This was going to be a long meeting.

\----

“He couldn’t think of a single creative thing to say in that whole speech?” It seemed Meijin was more miffed about the whole meeting than Enzan was, if the grumbling was anything to go by. “Could have said that all in a letter and gotten the same effect.”

“It’s just a formality. It’s required by the probation.” Enzan points out, careful to commit the path they’re walking to memory. It’s the same as they walked before, but it never hurt to review and review again.

“I know that.” Evidently, Meijin’s dislike for formalities extended beyond just the way he was addressed.

“I appreciate you staying, despite not wanting to.”

“Don’t mention it, kid.”

_“COMING THROUGH!”_

Their conversation was interrupted by a brunette boy trying to shove past them with a box of machine parts in his arms. Despite the fact that both Enzan and Meijin tried to vacate his way, his shoulder still hit Enzan, sending both his box and Enzan spiraling to the ground and throwing pieces every where. In turn, the girl that had been right behind him, crashed into him and caused the folder of papers she was holding to flutter into the air and fall like snow.

“Netto, you dummy!” complained the girl, trying futilely to catch a few of the papers before they fell all over the floor.   
  


“Sorry, Meiru-chan!” The boy like wise was trying to gather up the parts that he had scattered everywhere. 

“That’s how you break things,” Enzan adds on, getting onto his knees to help the boy, Netto, pick up the parts. “You should slow down.”  
  
“I’m already late; he’s gonna kill me…” 

“I don’t know why you put up with him.” Meiru says, gathering up her papers with Meijin’s help.  
  
“You know why!” he said, flustered. “There’s no time!”

Enzan gave Meijin a bewildered glance as the two friends got up as their stuff was handed back to them, and they tore down the hall with a shout of thanks.

So that happened. Maybe he’ll see those two again and figure out what the deal with that was.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Meijin left him to finish cleaning his room, and he was able to go to sleep early.

Tomorrow would be his first day of school, and he’d be left to face the subways once again to find his way to the school. To begin his education once again, and maybe start making a new life for himself.

His dreams were thankfully free of jail cells and chains.


	4. This isn't Kansas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because Enzan should have known he was asking for too much to be able to start school without any complications.

**_April 18th, 2016_ ** **_  
_** **_Morning_ **

The night had remained blissfully calm. Right up until that calm was shattered to pieces by a blaring alarm. 6 AM wasn’t an unusal time for Enzan to wake up, but maybe a small, unreasonable part of him thought it’d be the one of the many changes from life as an executive. Enzan pushed himself up, letting the blanket he was using fall in a puddle around his waist. It took a moment to adjust to his new room. He wondered if he’d ever get used to it.  
  


His sleep had been mostly uninterupted by talks of the velvet room. It was beginning to feel like that one time was a freak accident, a dream made up by a mind that was already way too stressed out. Maybe the fact he’s gotten to relax a little the last few days helped?  
  
(That doesn’t explain all the oddities he’s seen since he’s come to Tokyo.)  
  
It was unimportant. Today was Enzan’s first day of school, and with the train accidents, on top of this being his first time traveling there, he wanted to be prompt and professional. After all, he knew very well the deck was stacked against him, and there was no reason to give them reason to dislike him further. In a few minutes, he had himself dressed in his school uniform, and his backpack mostly packed already, with his phone shoved in the side pocket.

“Enzan-kun, are you awake?” Meijin’s voice called up the stairs.

“Yes, I am, Meijin!” He called back, looking into the mirror he had managed to uncover one last time. First impressions were everything. Looking clean and neat would make for a good one.  
  
“If you want some cereal, hurry down now!”  
  
“Yes, Meijin!” Enzan scooped his backpack off the floor, and hurried down to meet Meijin in the kitchen for a second morning in a row. He set the bag down neatly against the wall, and sat down at the table. He poured himself a bowl of cereal, and got to eating as fast as he could. He had enough time to spend maybe ten minutes, accounting for train schedules..  
  
A newspaper was flopped on the table in front of him. “I’ve already looked through it today, you can flip through it if you want!” Meijin was hurrying back and forth, looking for his things. Was the scientist always this disorganized? The sight confused Enzan enough that he was distracted from eating once again. This was new, compared to the Meijin he had gotten to see the last few days.

“Did you oversleep?” Enzan asked finally.  
  
“No no, nothing like that.” Meijin disappeared briefly into the living room and came back with his laptop. “I just wanted to see you off on your first day of school.” And he just… hadn’t gotten ready yet. He didn’t lie, it was just a partial truth.

If Enzan noticed, he decided not to call Meijin on it. He just hurried through the rest of his cereal, careful not to spill any milk on his uniform. He finished on time, and avoided the horror of soggy cereal. A double win.  
  
By the time he had finished, Meijin was leaning in the doorway, looking perfectly put together, as if he _hadn’t_ been running around the house like a madman trying to get all of his things shoved into his computer bag at the last second.  
  
“All ready to go, Enzan-kun?”  
  
“Yes, I am.” Enzan picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulders. He went to put his dish in the sink to wash it really quickly, but Meijin called him away. “We’re both in a hurry, let’s leave that for later. Let’s get out of here.”  
  
Meijin had already said he couldn’t take Enzan to school. But he cared enough to at least see him off.

  
  
  


Unfortunately, it seems as though Enzan should have checked the weather before he left. Maybe then he wouldn’t be stuck under an awning by his school’s train station, wondering how he was going to get the rest of the way to the school without ruining his uniform.  
  
There was shuffling beside him as the two students that crashed into him yesterday came out from the train station.  
  
“It’s raining?!” yelled the boy. Netto, was it?  
  
The girl, Meiru, sighed and tucked the folder underneath her school coat. “It seems so. Didn’t I warn you to bring an umbrella?”  
  
Enzan stuck his hands in his pockets, and turned away slightly, as if paying attention anything but his new companions. He didn’t want to eavesdrop on the other students. Or at least, he didn’t want to _look_ like he was.  
  
Netto looked busy with the box in his arms, as if that’d save him from the judgement of his friend. Meiru sighed. “I have an umbrella if you need it.”  
  
Netto perked up slightly, his cheeks colored in embarrassment. “Thanks Meiru-chan.” He shifted the box in his arms, and took the umbrella from her. With a swift motion, he extended the umbrella out and held it over his head. “If I hurry, I should be able to get something to eat! See ya, Meiru-chan!” And off the brunette went.  
  
“Netto, you forgot your folders- And he’s gone…” Meiru sighed. “I’m sorry he didn’t stick around to introduce himself.”  
  
Enzan stiffened, but was able to force himself to keep his business face on. Was it that obvious he was listening in? Because if it was, he was slipping. “He seemed to be in a hurry.”

“Yeah, he is. His club supervisor wanted Netto there early so they could get work done early…” The early bird caught the worm after all. Enzan thought it was a perfectly reasonable sentiment, but it appeared that Meiru didn’t share his opinion. Although...

“They’re not going to have a whole lot of time before class begins, are they?” Enzan’s phone beeped, and he pulled it out, wondering if he just got a notification.  
  
“No. Netto slept in, because thanks to _this,_ he’s gotten almost no sleep this last week.” Meiru’s hand was tightend around the strap of her shoulder bag.

Enzan located the cause of the vibration and frowned. The strange app he was _sure_ he deleted had opened itself. Definitely malware. He really needed to be careful about using it for any sensitive purpose until he could get a part time job to replace it. “They must be working hard.” Phone issues aside, Enzan wasn’t unused to long nights working towards a goal. It came with the territory. “It seems quite rigorous.” With a flick of his finger, he had closed the app and attempted to uninstall it once again.  
  
Meiru sighed. “It… It’s not just the hours.” She admits. “The teacher supervising it, Yamitaro Higure... he acts like he’s a CEO of some large warehouse, or a factory... where all the students are his employees.”  
  
Enzan raised an eyebrow, distracted from his phone’s odd behavior. “CEO? Factory?” What an… interesting way of describing it.  
  
(He didn’t realize the strange app had once again reappeared, nor that it was listening to their conversation.)  
  


“Yeah. You’re a transfer student, right? I saw you with your guardian yesterday.” Her eyes drifted towards the school. “So I guess you wouldn’t really know.”  
  
“Know what?”  
  
“He charges outrageous fees. Just… steer clear. It’s not worth it.”  
  
Perhaps being broke was a blessing.  
  
“We’re… going to be late. I’m sorry for burdening you with my thoughts. Let’s get going.” Meiru turned in the direction she was looking, beginning to walk that way, when a wave of nausea hit her. And Enzan too.

It felt like it lasted longer than it did.  
  
Enzan shook it off quickly. Perhaps his breakfast didn’t agree with him; there was nothing to be gained from just standing about, musing on smething that didn’t matter.  
  
(He was fine with the cereal yesterday ...)

  
He shoved his phone in his pocket, deciding he’d deal with it later.  
  
“I agree that we should go.”  
  
Meiru had bent over, resting her hands on her knees for a bit while she caught her breath, and then straightened up with a nod. “Y-yeah. I’ll show you. It’s your first day, right?”  
  
She lead him down the streets of Tokyo, though neither of them could shake the feeling that something was wrong. Very wrong.

  
  
  


“I couldn’t have walked the wrong way!” Meiru was panicking, and Enzan couldn’t blame her. The building they were in front of most certainly was not a school. Rather, a large warehouse with an elaborate store front would be a whole lot more accurate. 

  
Enzan would almost liken it to one of those big box stores that could be found in America. 

She poked at her phone, growing increasingly frustrated. “I’ve lost all signal.” She frowned. “Do you think you could…” Her voice drifted off.  
  
“Yeah. I can.” He pulled his phone out, but the strange app was still up. Swearing under his breath for letting himself get distracted, he swiped up to close it. And it wouldn’t close. It didn’t take long to realize that his phone wasn’t going to power down either, meaning he’d probably have to let it die. 

Wonderful.  
  
“My phone doesn’t seem to be working properly either.” It was strange that they were both having issues at the same time...

Putting her phone back into her side bag, Meiru looked over the building. “Maybe it’s just a weird prank or something. Though I wonder why Netto didn’t text me about this…” She didn’t seem sure of herself.  
  
This was a really weird prank, if it was one, wasn’t it? It wasn’t like Enzan ever went to public school before this. But surely, _surely,_ if pranks involving cloaking the whole school was a thing that happened, there would be a news article about it.

As they pushed open the doors, it didn’t seem anything like a school that Enzan had ever heard of. Two desks flanked the door, each with a student behind it. One was girl with hair in blonde braided pigtails, and the other a boy with a sweater on underneath his school jacket. Both of them had one of those “Hi, my name is _” Tags stuck to their chest, each with a number on them. 

The girl’s was a lot higher than the boys.  
  
Meiru looked between the two worriedly.

“Tohru-kun, Yaito-chan, what’s going on?” She asks. They must have been in the right place, if Meiru knew the two kids. Still not any kind of set up for a school though. 

“Welcome to the Shuujin branch of Higureya!” The two echoed together. “Please pay the 5,000 yen for the enterance fee!”  
  
Enzan blinked. Shuujin. That was the name of the school, was it not? He was already enrolled, Why would there be any additional fee? This is definitely where the school had been the night before… Meiru looked confused too.  
  
“Guys, this isn’t funny. What’s going on here?” Meiru’s eyes flickered between her two friends. “Just… why do we need to pay?”  
  
“Because we’re an exclusive club. You must pay to join. Those who can’t pay should leave.”  
  
Enzan didn’t like this feeling. “Who are we paying, anyways? I think we should talk to them.”  
  
“President Higure-san is simply worth far too much to meet with those who can’t pay our generous enterance fee.” The blonde girl answered by herself this time.  
  
Meiru turned to her. “Yaito-chan, can you just explain-”  
  
“If you don’t leave soon, I’ll have to call security.” The boy said, voice quiet and flat.  
  
Meiru spun around to face him. “Tohru-kun, please, can you-”  
  
A siren cut her off, and a metal gate fell behind her. “Intruder! Intruder!”

None of these order of events were making any degree of sense to Enzan. He had lost it somewhere around their school being turned into a warehouse and Meiru’s friends apparently were turned into the kind of corporate drones Enzan might have expected to see underneath his father. Creatures that could only be described as formless blobs shoved into a suit slithered up behind the desks, each with a weird ornate mask shoved onto its face.  
  
“This isn’t necessary, we can be going.” Meiru assured, backing towards the gate, hoping that they’d accept her peace offering and let them go. Enzan followed her back towards the gate, keeping her behind him just in case. He didn’t like the look of those so called guards.

It didn’t open, and those blobs were getting closer.  
  
Enzan knew somewhere in the back of his mind it was fruitless, but he turned and tried to shield Meiru anyways.

**_\----_ **

They couldn’t really get more fucked than this, right?  
  
The wording was far more crude than Enzan usually preferred, but it seemed to fit their situation unfortunately well. He and Meiru were surrounded by these amorphous blobs that might have almost looked like a child’s robot in suits if he squinted, if they weren’t carrying actual weapons. And they were leading him and Meiru to… somewhere, well towards the back of the giant warehouse, that even Enzan’s internal map was having difficulties keeping up with.

Despite Enzan’s best attempt to keep Meiru safe, it was hard to find a position that could be considered so, surrounded as they were by these wanna be robots.  
  
Meiru kept her hands curled tightly around her book bag, holding it in front of her, eyes locked on the ground. Enzan looked back and forth, looking for a chance to escape. He had no idea what was going on here, but it was definitely disturbing and he had the sinking feeling that the two of them may not be walking out alive if they didn’t escape somehow from this warehouse that had taken over the school.

Maybe if he could find some sort of break in the robot’s formation, he could possibly fight one into letting them by and then maybe they could navigate out of here? That sounded farfetched, even to Enzan.  
  
He was just one guy, against robots.  
  


The robots guided them to a door marked “Mister President Yamitaro Higure”. Higure, Higureya, someone was really full of them selves, weren’t they? Meiru’s hands tighened even more, digging her fingertips into her palms around her strap. One of the robot blobs knocked on the door.  
  
Higure, Higure, Higure, where had he seen that name before…  
  


Right, on that poster from yesterday. He ran the club that Meiru had been complaining about just a little bit ago. Not that any high school teachers had any business having robots that seemed to be carrying actual weapons  
  


The door swung open, and reminded Enzan of those cheesy B Action movies that he’d watch late at night in his office while working. And as the door opened, there was going to be a mob boss sitting at the desk.  
  
It should be noted that Enzan honestly did not expect to be as close to correct as he was.

“You…” Meiru probably couldn’t get more tense than she already was, but her shoulders noticably stiffened, and she made an attempt to straighten her back. Whatever happened here, Enzan was going to do his best to deflect any trouble off of her. 

He really hoped he was just being uncharacteristically dramatic, but really, everything around him suggested otherwise.

  
“So these are our intruders, huh?”

The man in front of them was the oddest combination of sleazy salesman and well dressed man. He had a plaid brown vest on with an over exaggered fur coat and a black fedora, along with unruly messy hair.  
  
“Yes sir.” One of the robots informed him.  
  
“Intruders? This is our school!” Meiru said. She was glaring with all she had at the teacher.  
  
The teacher adjusted his ridiculous over exaggerated sunglasses. “Your school, huh…?” The man looked thoughtful, stroking his chin as if there was a goatee there. “You didn’t pay the price of admission though, huh?”  
  
Price of admission. The counters up front?  
  
“You can still make it up though, huh? You would make a great addition to the advertisement team.”  
  
“I want no part of that awful thing you call a club.” Meiru responded.  
  
“Why not? It’d be more useful than you harrassing my workers, huh?” Higure would be flicking the ash away from a cigarette if he had one.  
  
Maybe it was just paranoia that made Enzan step closer to Meiru.Was it just him or were those robotic blobs getting closer to them?

Undeterred by Meiru’s glaring, or Enzan’s increasing guard, Higure pressed on. “The advertisment team is lacking, anyways. It could use a little pizzaz, huh? Imagine the touch a woman’s hand could bring!”  
  
“Why would I do that?” She asked, looking like she was going to argue more. Not wanting to see what would happen if he blew up, Enzan made the executive decision that he was going to step in. She could yell at him later if it bothered her.

“Listen, I think she’s making it pretty clear she doesn’t want any part of this, so if you’ll let us go-”  
  
One of the shadow robot blobs grabbed Enzan by the back of his jacket and roughly pulled him away. It worked out in his favor somewhat, though. At least the man’s eyes were drawn to him instead of Meiru. Maybe he could create a cover for Meiru’s escape? But to his dismay, it didn’t last nearly as long as he hoped. After all, Enzan was a stranger. He was _unimportant._  
  
His eyes quickly scanned the room, looking for some way to fight back. There was no way he was just going to stand down now. 

“Meiru-chan, you don’t hold the cards here, huh? You either help, or I’ll have to have you disposed of.” The blobs pushed closer to her, weapons raising up. She glared at them pulling her bag up to her chest, as if hoping swinging it at them would help her out of her situation.

_You aren’t just going to let her be hurt, are you?_

The voice, not one Enzan could place, caught him off guard. As well as the pulse of pain across his forehead

_Of course not!_   
  


He tried to grab for the statue on the desk, but it felt like everything had suddenly become muted. Enzan heard bits and phrases between the pulsing headache.

‘increased sales’

‘you don’t matter if you don’t make money’

‘why not help - it’s for the greater good’

‘You don’t have a choice.’

_Just standing there won’t change anything._

_You’d be risking yourself again, just to save her._

_I don’t care!_

_I can’t just… stand by!_

_It wasn’t an accident, then. You won’t let her be a corporate tool._

_I shall lend you my power, then, Enzan-sama._

_Enza_ _n-sama? Who are you?_

Enzan didn’t notice that the conversation had died down. That everyone was looking at him, and somehow at some point he had fallen to his knees. Slowly, he climbed back to his feet, intending on correcting this issue. The voice, who ever it was, was right. He couldn’t step down.

“Leave her alone!”

“I was gonna let you live, huh, but if you want to ruin my business too…”

...There was weight on his face?

  
  


_Who am I? I am thou…._

On instinct, his fingers curled around the mask, pulling and pulling despite the pain blossoming across his face. 

With a spray of blood that would have startled him if he hadn’t been in a daze, the mask came off.

_And thou art I. Let us step in, shall we?_

And then for the briefest moments, the world exploded in blue flame. When the flames cleared, it was hard to believe it was the same person who had been standing there just moment’s before

  
_“Hello, Blues.”_

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
